Hints to Battlegrounds

WoW lacks a way of teaching battlegrounds. To make things worse, we're plagued with achievements and gear-hunters. No offense to anyone, just making a point that there are many people that do not know how BGs work. I'm not the best player around obviously but I've played since vanilla, both in groups, as guild and solo and always enjoyed BGs. So here are some points I believe to be important for BGs. I'll post guides on specific battlegrounds as well.Goes without saying, this is a GUIDE and it should be taken as such. It's here to give you an idea and points of view, not dictate your every move or claim the only right way to do things. So, enjoy:

Before anything, make no mistake. This is PvP, not PvE. You need a completely different mindset to be successful, both in terms of personal tactics and team strategies. If I was to sum up the difference with one word, I'd use: Dynamism. PvE encounters are static puzzles. You need to solve them and execute them properly. PvP, on the other hand, is a constant struggle. You make a move, enemy counters, you counter that move and so on. The side that does not adapt or counter loses. Sticking to a strict strategy is a good way to lose, unless the enemy fails to counter it.

Gear, unfortunately, matters. PvP "skill" matters greatly and you may be able to 1v1 the hell out of geared noobs but in battlegrounds there will be lots of damage flying around and if you are taking more damage relative to your enemy, you won't have time to use your skills to full potential.

Game isn't balanced around 1v1. Most situations aren't 1v1. Duels do not represent battleground fights. Yet, you should duel as much as you can with as many different people as you can. Since pvp is about counters and dynamic thinking, duels will give you a good deal of insight of what you may face. Try to duel with your friends, guildies and teammates, and speak plainly on what each other did right or wrong. "Dude, you'd have killed me if you interrupted that last heal" "Your poisons aren't really doing much" etc, just made those up. This way, you can get better each fight. Do not care about winning, care about learning.

If you are playing solo, observe your team behaviour and try to fill in gaps as your class/spec permits. For example, obviously I can't fill a healer role as a rogue, but I can easily play the ninja in AB. If you are playing as a team, play it personal: Don't simply say "you're a rogue so you do this", if you know a particular mate doesn't do well on 1o1, then don't appoint him such roles.

With the exception of AV, killing enemies only makes true sense if you score "good kills". What's a good kill? It's a kill that has a point. Say, for WSG, killing the EFC. Killing EFC's healer. Killing the guy that is mounting up to help EFC. If you are killing the guy who's just standing in mid, you aren't helping. An exception to this rule may be when you survive long enough to make a difference when outnumbered. If three enemies are trying to kill one target, then you are crippling the enemy. This only matters if you manage to survive for a good amount of time. Also, its importance is inverse-proportional with number of people. In the above situation in WSG, 10% of your team is crippling 30% of enemy. In AV however, it's 2.5% vs 7.5%.

In accord with the above point, all your actions must serve a point. In AB, try to be as close as possible to a flag so you can hit enemies trying to ninja your flag. In EotS, fighting at flagsites makes sure you're contributing capture/defense. In WSG, it will always be of help when you can land a CC on the EFC or healer, even if it means you get killed by others.

Learn the rules of each battleground. Know when FCs start taking more damage. Most people aren't aware that EotS flag rewards more points when you have more towers. I see many people who has no idea what AV mines do, they aren't aware that Balinda and Galv buff their teams. The details of each BG can make all the difference in the world of battlegrounds.

Get to know the landscape. Juking ("losing" the enemy on your tail, mostly due to use of line-of-sight) can save your life and so can knowing how to drop from LM in AB without getting yourself killed. Not to mention basics like the locations of power-ups and flag.

TL;DR? Know yourself, know your team, know the battleground rules and terrain, improve your pvp gear and skill and change strategy as many time as needed throughout the game.

Comments

Comment by lankybrit

It could do with titles, some better formatting, and maybe some additional content (maybe about PvP gear perhaps? maybe links to all BG sites on wowhead etc.).

Good luck with this.

Cheer.

Comment by wojownik

Thanks for the intro. Your main point is learn the BG... what would be nice is to lay down the basics of each BG (ie... WSG main point is to capture enemy flag and get it to your base while your flag is still there) then helpful hints ie BG Buffs provided by MOBs, etc... finally, a generic startegy, point is they often change so general strategy is best..

Comment by thenixie

As someone who does not enjoy PvP, I venture into BGs only for specific reasons. There, I find myself "plagued with":

Abusive people who think that cursing and insulting everyone around them will somehow make the BG run more smoothly

3 people in any group of ten who each think their plan (3 separate plans, none of them laid out for the other members of the so-called team) is the "only" way to win - and who roundly insult everyone who isn't doing what they think ought to be done (while not, in fact, expressing what that strategy is except in the course of insulting those who aren't doing 'x' or 'y')

few people willing to coordinate, many people willing to complain

With that in mind, I am not so certain that those casual visitors like myself - who have read the BG description, reviewed the common tactics for success - and then come to "plague" you - are necessarily the biggest challenge in a BG.

You made some good general points, and several good BG-specific points. And so I'll ask you the same thing I try to ask those "problem" people in a BG (who are, btw - from my perspective at least- 100% of the time, people who consider themselves PVPers, not the 'visitors') - how about skipping the insults and getting specific about how to succeed together? :)

Sounds like you know lots about PvP and could offer more general suggestions that would be helpful to anyone trying to learn. I'd love to see your strategy and operational guides for each BG, rather than one or two out-of-context tips. Even more, I'd love to see a guide that doesn't start out by suggesting that if one is not a professional, full-time PvPer, one is not welcome here, as one's presence can only 'make things worse.'

Comment by Moschata

I play PvP for various reasons and try to keep a positive attitude even when being insulted or whispered with derogatory comments. The tip "it's about learning, not winning" is a great one!

I would suggest though that you make a guide that isn't so general. People who are looking up PvP guides on wowhead don't understand what you mean when you abbreviate to EFC and AB. Try being more specific! Maybe even you yourself could list the rules of each battleground to help those who are looking up your guide. So far, this is just common sense and not really a guide.